Thanks to the rainy season, a lot of the animals seem more playful than usual. As we were searching for animals in the rain, we found tracking quite difficult. All the fresh tracks were covered by the rain, therefore, it is difficult to tell the difference between fresh and old tracks.

Luckily for us, someone had spotted our herd of elephants earlier on during the day, so we had a general area to search in. Finally, after searching for about two hours in the rain, we find one male elephant next to the road. After showing us his strength by pushing over a tree and eating off of it for about five minutes, he moved off into the bush.

We went around to another road to see if he would come out. But, instead of finding the male elephant, we found the whole heard of elephants, including younger ones, playing in a mud pool on the road.

This was an amazing sighting – the babies were rolling around in the mud, throwing the mud around on themselves as well as the others. Eventually, even the adults joined in on the fun and started rolling around, almost on top of the little ones.

My guests were ecstatic about this and felt that this sighting was well worth the long, wet drive. To be allowed into the lives of these majestic creatures and to see a different side of them is one of the best parts of nature.

Kim (KC) – Kapama River Lodge
25/11/2012